Life and Teachings of the Prophet Muhammad

[Pages:158]Life and Teachings of the Prophet Muhammad Table of Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Table of Contents....................................................................2 Introduction ..............................................................................5 1. Arabia before Islam............................................................7

Makkah ..................................................................................8 The Characteristics of the Arab People .......................14 2. The Life of the Prophet Muhammad ............................18 Opposition Intensified.......................................................32 Islam spreads to Yathrib (Madinah) ..............................37 The Prophet Arrives at Madinah.....................................40 Brotherhood of Islam ........................................................41 The Prophet's Mosque......................................................42 The Prophet's Family .........................................................43 Jihad.....................................................................................44 The Battle of Badr ..............................................................44 The Battle of the Trench ...................................................46 Treaty of Hudaybiyyah .....................................................47

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Life and Teachings of the Prophet Muhammad Table of Contents

Call to the World................................................................48 Fall of Makkah ....................................................................49 Pardon for All......................................................................50 Battle of Hunayn................................................................50 First Hajj under Islam..........................................................51 The Farewell Pilgrimage ...................................................52 3. The Concept of Worship in Islam...................................54 The Implication of worship...............................................56 Five Pillars of Islam .............................................................58 The Spirit of Faith ................................................................59 The Spirit of Salah...............................................................60 The Spirit of Fasting ............................................................60 The Spirit of Zakah..............................................................61 The Spirit of Hajj ..................................................................62 4. The Concept of the State in Islam.................................64 5. The Status of Woman in Islam.........................................75 Hijab in Islam.......................................................................78 6. War and Peace in Islam ..................................................83

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Life and Teachings of the Prophet Muhammad Table of Contents

7. The Importance of Education in Islam .........................91 Merit of the learned and learners..................................92 The Development of Natural Sciences.........................95

8. The Concept of Ijtihaad in Islam..................................102 9. Human Rights in Islam ....................................................116

Some Comparative Examples......................................120 1. Freedom of religion: ...................................................120 2. Justice and equality before the Law:.....................121 3. Freedom of expression and dissent: .......................123 10. The Concept of Social Welfare in Islam...................126 11. The Concept of Spirituality in Islam ...........................137 12. The Relevance of the Quran and Sunnah in Modern Times.......................................................................................150

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Life and Teachings of the Prophet Muhammad

Introduction

INTRODUCTION

BOOKS on Seerah (Life of the Prophet) exist in great numbers. These are no doubt valuable books in their own right. However, one aspect of Seerah still remains to be highlighted. And that is, the relevance of seerah in the modern world. It is a subject, which, despite its great importance, has yet to be treated with sufficient thoroughness.

The books written on the subject of seerah give extensive coverage to miracles, wars and victories. Emphasis on these matters appeals to the conventional mind, but it has no appeal for modern man. These things do not address his mind. The modern man thinks in terms of science and not in terms of miracles. He thinks in terms of peace and not in terms of war. He is more interested in solutions to human, social and economic problems, rather than descriptions of political and military conquests. A thing becomes understandable to the modern man only when it is presented within the framework of reason rather than beliefs.

I have planned my book keeping in view this most urgent, present day requirement. I want to present a book, which is not just a repetition of the books already written, but one whose aim would be to fulfill modern intellectual requirements, focusing on the relevance of the Prophet of Islam in contemporary global context.

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Life and Teachings of the Prophet Muhammad Introduction

Another important thing, which is lacking in most of the books of Seerah is that they do not underscore the peaceful method followed by the Prophet.

A deep study of Seerah tells us that the Prophet invariably adopted the peaceful method unilaterally. He thus succeeded in bringing about a bloodless revolution in Arabia. Unfortunately, this aspect of Seerah has not been highlighted in existing biographies of the Prophet.

In present times, owing to certain global concerns, the propensity to study Islam has greatly increased. All over the world, curiosity has been aroused as to what exactly is meant by Islam.

What is urgently needed, therefore, is an objective, in-depth study of Islam--one which presents Islam as it actually is, uncompromisingly and without bias. It is in order to meet this need--in particular, to show how Islam can meet the challenge of violence--that I have undertaken the venture of presenting Islam as it is in the light of Prophet's life and teachings.

Farida Khanam

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Life and Teachings of the Prophet Muhammad

1. Arabia before Islam

1. ARABIA BEFORE ISLAM

WITH an area of 1,20,000 square miles the land of Arabia is the largest peninsula in the world. It has the Red Sea to the West, the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Adan to the south-east and the rivers Euphrates and Tigris and the Persian Gulf to the north-east. It thus occupies a unique position. It is situated in Asia, yet only the narrow Red Sea divides it from Africa and by just passing through the Suez Canal, one reaches the Mediterranean Sea and Europe. It is thus at the centre of three continents, yet it is apart from all of them.

Arabia being a very hot and dry country, one third of it is desert. It is strange that a land surrounded by water on three sides, and with only a narrow strip of land to the north, has practically no river of its own, except for small streams here and there, which soon dry up in the hot desert.

Rain too is scarce. The rains come in torrents in spring, but the water does not stay. It is lost in the sand as quickly as it comes. There being no dependable rainy reason, which is necessary for agriculture, this vast land, about a thousand kilometres wide and about the same in length, is neither fertile nor cultivable.

Yemen, the original home of the Semites, is the only exception, in that it is fertile and enjoys a rainy season. Besides this, the rest of the peninsula consists of barren valleys and deserts. Due to the lack of vegetation, life here can be only that of the desert. The

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Life and Teachings of the Prophet Muhammad

1. Arabia before Islam

camel, the only means of transportation is indispensable, for a desert life demands continuous movement. The desert dwellers must continually go in search of pastures, which are scarce and thin, and soon cropped bare. The pastures turn green around spring, watered by springs which form in the wake of occasional rainfalls. In such an infertile country where no agriculture has ever been possible, the only produce is dates. In the context of this civilization, Yemen has always been very developed in terms of agriculture. Showing great intelligence the Yemenis invented ways of saving rain water from running down to the sea so that artificial irrigation could be carried out. Moreover, they built the famous dam of Maarib by changing the natural course of the water. This water is gathered in a 400 meter wide valley between two mountains by constructing a dam with gates at the narrowest point in the valley.

Then this water is divided into many streams and spread over a wide area of plains. It is almost like the Nile in the dam area in Upper Egypt. In this way they have contrived to have a controlled distribution of their water. The fertility of their land has gone on increasing and the people of Yemen have become very prosperous.

MAKKAH

When Hajira's infant son started crying for water she ran desperately between the hills of Safa and Marwah in search of water. She ran seven times when finally she discovered a spring of water gushing from the ground by the side of her son. It was this

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